In prior art, as a tape printing apparatus (printer) of this kind, a known apparatus includes a two-way drive mechanism that feeds an ink ribbon in a feed direction and a reverse feed direction by driving, for rotation, a ribbon delivering core (ink ribbon supply spool) around which the ink ribbon is wound in such a way that it can be unreeled, and a ribbon winding core (ink ribbon taking-up spool) onto which the ink ribbon unreeled from the ribbon delivering core is reeled (see Patent Literature 1). The two-way drive mechanism includes: a drive motor, an ink ribbon supply gear that supports a ribbon supply shaft that is in engagement with the ribbon delivering core, an ink ribbon taking-up gear that supports a ribbon taking-up shaft that is in engagement with the ribbon winding core, and a pivotal drive gear assembly.
The pivotal drive gear assembly includes: a pivotal gear that is connected via a gear train to the drive motor, a gear plate that turns in an accompanying manner as the pivotal gear rotates, and a first moving gear and a second moving gear that are mounted rotatably on the gear plate. The first moving gear is in meshing engagement with the pivotal gear and is brought into and out of meshing engagement with the ink ribbon taking-up gear as the gear plate turns. The second moving gear is in meshing engagement with the first moving gear and is brought into and out of meshing engagement with the ink ribbon supply gear as the gear plate turns. In the two-way drive mechanism described above, when the drive motor is driven to rotate in the forward direction, the gear plate turns toward the ink ribbon taking-up gear to bring the first moving gear into meshing engagement with the ink ribbon taking-up gear. As a result of this operation, the drive motor and the ink ribbon taking-up gear get connected to each other via the gear train, and, in this state, the ribbon winding core is able to be driven to rotate by the drive motor. When the drive motor is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, the gear plate turns toward the ink ribbon supply gear to bring the second moving gear into meshing engagement with the ink ribbon supply gear. As a result of this operation, the drive motor and the ink ribbon supply gear get connected to each other via the gear train, and, in this state, the ribbon delivering core is able to be driven to rotate by the drive motor. In this way, it is possible to switch the connection to the drive motor between the ink ribbon taking-up gear and the ink ribbon supply gear in accordance with the forward and reverse rotation of the drive motor.